Toy construction member.



W. B. SMITH. TOY CONSTRUCTION MEMBER.

- APPLICATION FILED APR.20, I916. 1212 700. Patented Jan. 16,1917.

'2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WLBLSMITH. TOY CONSTRUCTION MEMBER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.20. 1916. 1,212,700. Patented Jan. 16,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WALTER B. SMITH, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

cor ccns rnnc'rron MEMBER.

' Specification r Letters Patent,

LFTZJWF.

Patented an, to, tear.

Application and Apri120,1916. seminal same To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, WALTER B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful "improvement in Toy Construction Members; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in

Figure 1 a perspective view of a girdermember constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 a perspective view of a. partially assembled girder comprising four girder-members and a male and a female end or coupling-member. Fig. 3 a similar detached view of one of the female couplingmembers. Fig. 4 a similar view of one of the male coupling-members. Fig. 5 a similar broken view showing two girders in process of being coupled together end to end. Fig. 6 a similar broken view showing two girders in process of being coupled at a right ang view showing six girders coupled together so as to radiate at right angles from each other.

My invention relates tofan improvement in toy construction-members of the class in which a variety of 'efiects in structural steel workmay be simulated, the object being to produce toy "construction-members designed with particular reference to ease and variety of assemblance without the use of screws,

nuts and bolts, or similar fastening means.

- With these ends in view, my invention consists in toy construction-members of the structural-steel type, having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a plurality of girder-members 2 perforated as at 3 and 4: for the simulation of structuralsteel girder work, provided along their side edges with assembling-flanges 5 and formed at each end with an assembling finger 6 standing at a right angle to the plane of the member and each formed with an in wardly struck coupling-nub 7 Each member 2 is also provided near its ends with transversely arranged coupling-slots 8 arranged in line with the sai fingers 6 which are intersected by the central longitudinal axis of the girder-member 2."

le to each other. Fig. 7 a broken Fourgirder-members. 2, such as described,

. are assembled to form a hollow rectangular girder by means of a pair of U-shaped end coupling-members 9 and 10 of which the former is characterized as a female member by having a slot 11 lo ated at one side of the center of its outer face 12, and the latter as a -male' member by having a yielding tongue 13 formed in its outer face 14. The female-member 9 is provided at the corners of its outer face 12 with four outwardly struck conical nubs 15, while the male member 10 is provided in the corners of its outer face with corresponding'conical depressions 16. Each of the said coupling-members has two parallel, inwardly extending wings or arms 17 each of which is formed near its outer edge with a transverse coupling-slot 18. The outer faces 12 and 14: of the said coupling-members 9 and 10 are struck inward to form clearance recesses 19-10cated directly opposite each other on the open inwardly struck, conical depression 21.. The

recesses 19 and slots 20 aforesaid are formed forthe reception of the assembling fingers 6 of the girder-members 2 as shown in Fig. 2, while the depressions 21 are formed for the receptionof the nubs 7 on the. assembling fingers 6 of the said girder-members, for retaining the fingers 6 in the slots 20.

' "-When the tongue 13 .of one of the male end coupling-members 10 is inserted into the slot 11 of one of the female end coupling-members 9, the nubs 15 of the femalemember snap, so to speak, into the corresponding depressions 16 of the male-memberin coupling the girder end to end to assist in preventing the axial rotation of the girders with respect to each other. The girders produced bycombining four girdermembers 2 and a pair of end cou ling-members 9 and 10, may be combine with each other in an endless variety of ways three of slot 11 of the other girder. In Fig. 6, two

girders are shown as being combined at a right angle by inserting the tongue 13 of one 'rder through one of the side slots 8 of anot er girder. The structure of Fig. 7 is produced by combining the modes of coupling illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. Another range of structures may be built by inserting'the tongues 13 of the male couplingmembers into the triangular openings 3 of the girder-members, the range of variation being practically endless, and constituting the interest of the game.

Particular attention is called to the fact that all of these variations are produced without the employment of screws, bolts and nuts, or other fastening meansall replaced in my construction by end coupling-members having tongues and slots for receiving the same.

The invention herein described might obviously be embodied in girders having other" than rectangular form, the only requirement being that-their end coupling-members shall be provided with yielding tongues and slots for the reception thereof.

I claim 1. As a new article of manufacture, toyconstruction members comprising girdermembers and end-coupling members, the said girder-members being provided at their respective ends with inwardly projecting assembling-fingers and the said couplingmembers being formed with slots for the reception of the said assembling-fingers, and means for holding the said fingers in place in the said slots after their introduction thereinto.

2. As a new article of manufacture, toyconstruction members comprising girdermembers and male and female end-coupling members, the said girder-members being furnished at their respective ends with inwardly projecting assemblingfingers, and with coupling-slots located adjacent thereto,

and the said male and female end-coupling 1 members being formed with slots for the reception of the said assembling-fingers, and respectively formed also with couplingtongues and coupling-slots WALTER B. SMITH 

